| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: short time was among the members of his tribe.
Here he recounted the details of his adventure, with swelling
chest and so considerable swagger that he quite impressed
even his bitterest enemies, while Kala fairly danced for joy
and pride.
Chapter 9
Man and Man
Tarzan of the Apes lived on in his wild, jungle existence
with little change for several years, only that he grew
stronger and wiser, and learned from his books more and
more of the strange worlds which lay somewhere outside his
Tarzan of the Apes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: to its progress. This was the principal domestic of the
stranger--a man of trust and consequence--the same who, in the
hunting-field, had accommodated Bucklaw with the use of his
horse. He was in the stable when Caleb had contrived the
expulsion of his fellow-servants, and thus avoided sharing the
same fate, from which his personal importance would certainly not
have otherwise saved him.
This personage perceived the manoeuvre of Caleb, easily
appreciated the motive of his conduct, and knowing his master's
intentions towards the family of Ravenswood, had no difficulty as
to the line of conduct he ought to adopt. He took the place of
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche: which, in the form of subject- and ego-superstition, has not yet
ceased doing mischief): perhaps some play upon words, a deception
on the part of grammar, or an audacious generalization of very
restricted, very personal, very human--all-too-human facts. The
philosophy of the dogmatists, it is to be hoped, was only a
promise for thousands of years afterwards, as was astrology in
still earlier times, in the service of which probably more
labour, gold, acuteness, and patience have been spent than on any
actual science hitherto: we owe to it, and to its "super-
terrestrial" pretensions in Asia and Egypt, the grand style of
architecture. It seems that in order to inscribe themselves upon
Beyond Good and Evil |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: do. I came to the conclusion that I had no right to spy on her,
and I drove down to the club. At six I called to see her. She was
lying on a sofa, in a tea-gown of silver tissue looped up by some
strange moonstones that she always wore. She was looking quite
lovely. "I am so glad to see you," she said; "I have not been out
all day." I stared at her in amazement, and pulling the
handkerchief out of my pocket, handed it to her. "You dropped this
in Cumnor Street this afternoon, Lady Alroy," I said very calmly.
She looked at me in terror but made no attempt to take the
handkerchief. "What were you doing there?" I asked. "What right
have you to question me?" she answered. "The right of a man who
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